I shot this buck the evening of November 12th which is the day before rifle season here in MO. It was a rainy, nasty day on Friday. With everything wet, the deer were pretty much like ghosts in the woods – you had to depend on the eyes because you sure weren’t going to hear them. This buck along with a younger 8pt snuck in on me and when I saw them they were at about 40yrds and cruising. I had an eight foot shooting lane that the younger one was in and this one was close on his heels. This gave me about 5 to 10 seconds to make the decision on whether to shoot…

Friday morning I had rattled in a really nice 8pt that came by me at about 30 yrds, but he stayed in the brush offering me no shot. When I saw the right side of this buck’s rack, I made the quick decision that this was the 8 that I had saw that morning and that he was a shooter. He stepped into the shooting lane at 35 yards and I bleated, but he completely ignored me! I practically had to yell, and on the 3rd “yell” he stopped just inside the lane. The arrow released and I heard a loud pop, I knew he was hit hard as he never really ran and barely made it over the next ridge. It was about that time that it started pouring rain again which was nerve racking as I knew that my blood trail was going to be gone soon!

The rain slowed to a mist so I decided to wait. I waited an hour and after making a few phone calls and saying a few prayers, my cousins and I trailed him over the next ridge and found him laying just on the other side. My kids were pumped, both that dad finally got him a buck this year and that God answered their prayers! The shot had been good – I hit him in the very back of the right shoulder and it went through and lodged in the left shoulder putting in right in the boiler room. The shoulder hit explained the loud pop I had heard!

As always, it’s such a great moment to find that deer, but it also was a moment of truth. As I began to look the buck over I began to think that this was one of the deer that I had passed at 10yrds earlier in the week that I had on video. After getting him home we reviewed the footage from earlier in the week, and sure enough, there he was walking 10 yards from my stand on a morning hunt earlier in the week! I tell you this to let you in on a lesson that I learned. If you have a buck in mind that you’ve seen earlier in the day or recently, it’s very easy for your mind to make that jump to that buck when making a split decision. Don’t know if there’s a remedy to this, but it may be something to keep in mind at the very least. In the end, I’m very thankful to have this deer – the meat will go to good use, and my kids are very proud of their daddy – both of which are worthy reasons to enjoy this great sport!

P.S. – Unfortunately with all the rain, I didn’t have my vid camera along.

Tip of the week – rattle and grunt often, I’ve rattled and grunted 5 bucks in just this week! GOOD LUCK!!